Ore-separator.



N0. 724,705. PATENTED APR, 7, 1903. H. G. JOHNSON & M. S. HOWARD.

ORE SEPARATOR.

' APPLICATION IILBI) SEPT. 5. 1902. NO MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 INVEN T ORS H G. Jo7vru3 071/ d owa/TOZ,

WITNESSES. BY

%Jd%fi O Q 1 ATTORNEYS.

:PATBNTED APR, 7, 1903. H. G. JOHNSON & M. s. HOWARD.

ORE SEPARATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. a. 1902.

2 SHEETS SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

INVENTORSI H GzJoh'w/o 071/ WI T .NES SLS.

TTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS G. JOHNSON AND MONROE S. HOWARD, OF WAUKON, IONA, ASSIGNORS OF NINE-TENTHS TO THE EUREKA MINING, SMELTING AND POlVER COM- PANY, OF WAUKON, IOlVA, A CORPORATION OF WASHINGTON.

ORE-S'E'PARATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 724,705, dated April 7, 1903. Application filed September 5,1902. Serial No. 122,232. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it mayconc'ermr Be it known that we, HANS G. JOHNSO'N and MONROE S. HOWARD, citizens of the United States, residing at VVaukon, in the county of Allamakee and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Ore- Separators; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable oth- Io ers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in ore-roasting apparatus, and While our improved roaster will be found reliably efficient. and desirable for use in the treatment of a great variety of metalbearing ores our prime object is to provide a means for electrically roasting the ore, and thus changing it from sulfid to sulfate, in

which form the metallic copper can be easily taken out by any of the well-known processes, as leaching, precipitation, (to.

Other objects and advantages will be hereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central'vertical longitudinal sectional view of our device in its operative position. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view as seen from the dotted 0 line a; :1; in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional View taken on the same plane as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a vertical seci'rional view as seen from the dotted line y g in Referring to the drawings, in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts, 1 indicates an outer casing, which is preferably conical in form and having inclined flanges 2 and 3 at its opposite ends. The object of these flanges is to retard the flow of the ore and to retain the same within the length of the casing 1. At suit able points around the periphery of the easing 1 are mounted T-shaped track-rails 4 and 5 5, the said track-rails being adapted to travel upon and be supported by trunnions 6, having concave surfaces, as shown.

The trunnions 6 are carried in stirrups 7 and 8, securely mounted upon the base-plate 9. Surrounding the casing 1, intermediate c the track-rails 4 and 5, is a band 10, carrying sprocket-teeth 11, the said teeth being adapted to receive the links of a sprocket-chain 12, the said chain in turn engaging with a sprocket-wheel 13, mounted upon a driving shaft 14. Power is transmitted to the shaft 4 14 through the belt-pulley 15, also securely mounted upon the shaft 14, the shaft being suspended from a beam 16 by suitable brackets or the like 17. 6o

Secured to the opposite end of the shaft 14 from that occupied by the sprocket-wheel 13 is a beveled pinion 18, which in turn meshes with a pinion 19 upon the upper end of a shaft 20, the said shaft being supported by a bracket 21 at or near its upper end and being provided at its lower end with a forcefeed appliance 22, such as a worm or the like.

The shaft 20, carrying the worm 22, is adapted to take into a hopper 23 and force the contents thereof through the down-spout 24 into the casing 1, thus causing the ore to be fed into the casing at a uniform speed. The inner wall of the casing is provided with longitudinally-disposed agitating-bars 25, so that the ore will be evenly distributed over the surface of the said casing while passing through the same.

At the enlarged end or base of the conical casing 1 pockets or the like 26 are located, which may be constructed of any preferred material and in any way; but it is our object to so attach them that the material will fall from out of the said pockets by gravity when the pockets have been turned to the proper position.

Supported by a suitable bracket 27 and located within the base end of the casing 1 is a hopper 28, having a downwardly-extending spout'29,the said spout communicating with one end of an interior casing 30, the casing 30 being centrally located within the casing 1 and held rigid with respect to the casing 1 by means of suitable arms 31 and 32 at or near the respective ends thereof. 5

One end of the casing 30 is provided with a downwardly-extending flange 33, the object of said flange being to prevent the ore from passing out at that end of the casing, the opposite end of the casing being left entirely open and extending a short distance beyond the end of the casing 1 for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth. The said inner casing is also provided with longitudinally-disposed flanges 34 for the purpose aforestated. To successfully accomplish the desired result, it becomes necessary to supply the heated ore with oxygen, and to this end an air-pipe 35 is inserted into the inner casing 30 and extends part Way therethrough, the free end of said pipe extending outwardly beyond the base end of the casing 1, so that air may be injected therein. The pipe 35 is centrally disposed with respect to the inner casing 30 and outer casing 1 and held rigidly in this relation by means of a bracket 36. The air is permitted to escape from the pipe 35 through a series of perforations 37 and also at the inner end thereof. Adjacent to the inner end of the said pipe 35 we have located a cap or hood 38, having a convex surface, so that when the air strikes the said cap it will be properly diifused within the inner casing 30. The cap also serves to support the inner end of the pipe 35, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

In order to properly roast and thus prepare the ore for further treatment, whereby the copper may be completely separated, we have provided a means for roasting the ore by electricity, to which end we have supplied the machine with proper insulation and resistance. The electricity is conveyed to the brush or contact-point 39 through the linewire 40, the brush 39 being mounted upon a beam 41 in any preferred way, the free end of said brush contacting with the surface of the air-pipe 35,-so that when the current is applied it passes through the pipe 35 to the bracket 36, where it passes up through said bracket into the inner casing 30, thence 1 through the casing 30 to thearms 31, passing up through said arms into the casing 1, passing thence to the base or enlarged end of the casing 1, whence it passes through the trackrail 5, trunnions 6, and stirrup 8, where i enters the return line-wire 42 and is conducted back to the dynamo, thus completing the circuit. To prevent the current from shunting the casing 30 by passing up through the arms 32, the said arms areinsulated from the cylinder 1 and casing 30, as indicated at 43 and shown more clearly in Fig. 3. It will thus be seen that by supplying a sufficient voltage and providing proper resistance a very high degree of temperature may be attained.

In operation the ore is placed in the hopper 23 andfed intothe casing 1, whereby by having the casing cone-shaped and inserting the ore at the apex it will travel to the opposite end of the casing 1. At this point the ore is elevated by the pockets 26 and delivered into the hopper28, from whence it is conducted throughthe down-spout 29 into one end 44 of the inner casing, and by having the opposite end 45 of the shaft 30 slightly below the plane of the end 44 the ore is caused to travel toward the end 45, where the roasted ore is deposited into any preferred form of cooling vat. The casing 1 and accessory parts is caused to rotate upon its track-rails 4 and 5 through the medium of the sprocket-band 10, chain 12, sprocket-wheel13, and shaft 14, and by such revolving motion, in conjunction with the agitators 25 and 34, respectively, the ore is kept evenly distributed throughout the length of the casings 1 and 30, thus permitting the ore to become more thoroughly heated and at the same time assists the ore in traveling from end to end of the casings. It will be obvious that the ore will have attained a high degree'of temperature by the time it has reached the pockets 26 and that it will be heated sufficiently to cause the sulfid of copper to take up oxygen and become sulfate of copper and also free any gold and silver, &c., owing to the intense heat within the casing 30 and the introduction of air through the openings 37, thereby facilitating the disintegration ofthe elements in which sulfid of copper and gold and silver are held imprisoned. The ore, therefore, after being roasted at a properteinperatu re changes its condition and becomes sulfate of copper, when by addinga certain amount of water and sulfuric acid the sulfate of copper may be dissolved and pure copper obtained by precipitation or deposited electrically.

It will be obvious that various modifications and substitutes may be adopted in the formation and combination of the various elements employed by us in materializing our invention, and we therefore wish to comprebend in this application all possible substitutes and equivalents as may be'considered as falling fairly within the scope of our invention.

It will be seen, for instance, that the shape of both the interior and the exterior casings may be varied, while the relative position of said casings may also be changed, inasmuch as the object is to provide suitable resistance for the current,which will result in producing the required degree of temperature and so act upon the ore treated thereby that the sulfidof-copper molecules distributed through the same will be brought in contact with the atoms of oxygen and caused to unite with them to form sulfate of copper, which may be removed from the baser constituency by leaching or other well-known methods.

Any preferred process of leaching the sulfate of copper out of the roasted ore and subsequently extracting the copper from the solution may be employed, and we therefore leave such subsequent process to the election of the operator.

Believing that the advantages and manner of using our invention have thus been made clearly apparent in the foregoing specification considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, further description is deemed unnecessary.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The herein-described ore-roasting mechanism comprising a base member; supportingtrunnions carried by said base; a conical exterior casing having annular track-rails at each end adapted to rest upon said trunnions; a feed mechanism adapted to deliver the ore into one end of the said outer casing; longitudinally-disposed flanges carried by the exterior casing adapted to agitate the ore therein; an interior chamber and pockets carried at one end of the exterior chamber whereby the ore will be delivered from the exterior chamber into the interior chamber substantially as set forth.

2. In an ore-roaster an outer casing having annular track-rails; trunnions upon which said track-rails travel; a hopper adapted to convey the ore into said outer casing; a worm adapted to force said ore into said casing; means for driving said worm; pockets located within the outer casing in combination with an inner casing having longitudinally-disposed flanges on its innerface; a hopper independently supported and adapted to receive the ore from said pockets and deposit it in the said inner casing, substantially as set forth.

3. In an ore-roaster, an outer casing rotatably mounted. in position; an inner casing concentric therewith; means for rotating said outer casing and additional means to introduce and feed the ore into the outer casing whereby it will travel by gravity to the outer end thereof and suitable flanges carried by the outer casing to elevate the ore and deliver it into the inner casing as set forth.

4. In an ore agitator and roaster, the combination with an exterior casing rotatably mounted in position, of an interior casing concentric therewith; means to deliver the crushed ore into one end of the exterior casing whereby it will be fed by gravity to the other end thereof and devices carried by the exterior casing adapted to elevate the ore into a chute leading into the inner casing, all substantially as specified and for the purpose set forth.

5. The herein-described ore-roasting mechanism comprising a suitable exterior casing having one end slightly depressed in combination with an interior casing; means to rotate said exterior casing; a suitable electric circuit connected with both of said casings; means to feed the ore into the exterior casingand direct the same to the lower end thereof and additional means to deliver the ore from the exterior into the interior casing whereby it will be forced to travel over a heated surface and suitable means to introduce air into the heated interior chamber whereby the changes in the ore will be facilitated, all combined substantially as specified and for the purpose set forth.

6. In an ore-roaster, a conical exterior cas ing having an annular rib or track-rail at each end; suitable supporting-wheels for said track-rail; means to rotate the casing; in com* bination with an interior chamber concentrically mounted within said exterior chamber and means adapted to direct the travel of the ore through the exterior chamber into the interior chamber whereby said o're will be forced to travel over a heated aerated sur-- face, all combined substantially as specified and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HANS e. JOHNSON. MONROE s. HOWARD.

Witnesses:

R. 13. MAY, E. D. PURDY. 

